


The Mystic Chronicles - Preview

by Liberte_Egalite_Broadway, Luveverlark



Category: Original Work
Genre: Collaboration, Elements, Magic, Magic Schools, Original work - Freeform, People with magic, Please Review, Preview, Read, Soon to be PUBLISHED, beta readers needed, people with powers, please
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-08
Updated: 2017-05-08
Packaged: 2018-10-29 08:59:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10850712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liberte_Egalite_Broadway/pseuds/Liberte_Egalite_Broadway, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luveverlark/pseuds/Luveverlark
Summary: Twenty-five people every other generation are gifted with magical abilities. Not just any, however - there are twenty-five powers, each based off of an element or skill, and one is possessed by each of these young people, known as Mystics. Now, a place has been created to train them - where they will live and learn and interact. Life, education, perhaps even love... welcome to the first year at the Mystic academy.~~~A previously un-read excerpt of a novel we are writing. We desperately need beta readers. More details in the notes.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey AO3! This is Live_Love_Laflams, aka H.G. Warrender. Some of you may know me from my recent Hamilton fanfiction "Destiny Put Us All in One Spot", where I teased the ideas of two of my in-progress novels. One of them was a historical fiction piece. The other was a collab between me and my cousin, Luveverlark.
> 
> Well, I am happy to report that the second draft of this collab is practically done. We have everything we need to publish... except for one. We don't have any Beta readers.
> 
> And that is where you come in. Before we send this thing to an editor or start more drafts or consider publications, we want people to look over our work and tell us what they think. What you are about to read are the first two chapters of our fantasy novel, "Power Unchained: The Mystic Chronicles Book One". And we want feedback. That means, we would greatly appreciate more than just a simple comment - though that's appreciated too! - and would love to read through multi-paragraph reviews. Critiques and suggestions are especially welcome. Basically, tell us all of your thoughts.
> 
> Plus, because we don't think it's fair to suck up your time and brain power without giving anything in return, anyone who leaves feedback will receive an acknowledgment in our book. Your name will appear however you want us to put it in, in a section at the back of our book. 
> 
> If this small excerpt doesn't totally make sense, rest assured - we do have a prologue that will come before. However, it is still in the works and thus not being posted here.
> 
> PLEASE NOTE that we are protected with ownership and if you try to steal anything from this work, we have rights and can win in a lawsuit. But we don't want to go there, so please just don't steal it. :)
> 
> Without further ado, please enjoy (and comment on!) these two chapters of "Power Unchained". 
> 
> -LLL <3

A small, blue car drove in the lot outside of the school. In the driver's seat, Brooke Mannings, age 17, shifted the gear into park. She turned off the radio, and leaned her forehead onto the arm draped across the wheel.

_ I’m ready,  _ she told herself. This was what she had been waiting for. Some butterflies were natural, but she pushed them down anyway _. _ She drew a deep breath and then released it. "I'm ready," she repeated, but aloud this time. She pulled down the mirror in the visor and refreshed her lipstick. Then she swung the door of the car open and climbed out, hitching her blue purse up onto her shoulder as she took a step forward.

She walked off of the parking lot and onto the brick walkway, bordered by sloping gardens. Brooke reached out and placed a hand in a stream of water coming from one of the blue fountains, and threw it up into the air, laughing as it rained back down on her. She wove it into a ribbon and wound it around herself, before throwing it up into the air. As it rained back down upon her, she smiled, and felt it sprinkling her blonde hair. 

"Wow," said a slightly sarcastic voice behind her. Brooke turned around to see a pretty girl with choppy black hair looking at her. "You must be the Mystic of water." She licked her bright orange lips. "Luo Soll, Mystic of morale."

"Brooke Mannings," said Brooke. For some reason, she felt a little uneasy as the girl looked her up and down, obviously critiquing her outfit. 

Seeming satisfied, the girl studied her nails for a minute, then looked up at Brooke sharply. 

“That blue car that just pulled in - is that yours?”

“Yes.”

“It looks old.”

“It’s vintage.”

Luo considered this, then waved a hand towards her own ride. “Mine too. I think. Like it?”

Brooke looked at the orange motorcycle that she indicated. "Yes, it's pretty."

"Thanks. My ex gave it to me." Luo winked. "He never saw it coming.”

Brooke started. “Sorry, what?”

“Did I say that out loud? - oh, shoot! I left my jacket on the handlebar!"

And without a word she sped off.

_ Creepy _ , Brooke thought. She continued up the walkway, up to the school’s main class building that held the auditorium, then stopped dead in her tracks.

A tall, wide building of brick loomed above her. Along the enormous oak doors, there were symbols - elements, twenty-five framing the door in place of bricks. Brooke saw ice, stone, coals, a glass brick full of liquid, a taxidermy bird in a case, a small candle burning in another glass case. She reached out and touched the ice, which, though in the sun, was still solid. She spread out her fingers and closed her eyes. The ice melted, and then became solid again. With a smile, Brooke started into the school.

 

"Welcome!" Principal Ember's voice rang out over the auditorium. "Welcome, my friends, to your first year at Mystic High!"

The twenty-five students in the auditorium broke out into applause, and someone whistled from the back of the room.

"Over the next four years, you will be trained in the history of our kind and the development of your skills -please understand that full participation must be given on your part if you intend to complete your training. Each of you is the only Mystic of your element, so it is most essential that you make every possible attempt to further your education to it's maximum.

"Your dormitories are right down the back sidewalk from this building, which houses several of your classes. The building on the left houses girl's dormitories; boys, your dormitory is the building on the right. Mr. Ryan Quartz, current Mystic of stone, is the resident director for the boys, and Ms. Ellen Tenebris, Mystic of darkness, is the resident director for the girls. You will pick your class schedule, list of rules, map, and your dormitory number at the counsellor's office, which is room number 100A of this building.

"Classes begin on September Fifteenth, which means you will have two days to settle in. As we live in isolation here, you will find that everything is twenty miles away at the least. Part of your training will involve finding a way to travel to these locations, as your vehicles may not leave the school except with permission or for emergencies. Meanwhile, we will provide your meals and you may make purchases at the campus store.

He paused, and smiled over at the crowd. Some of the students looked concerned that they wouldn't be able to use their cars - or motorcycles, in Luo’s case. She had taken a seat nearby, and Brooke heard her mutter, “I just filled up the gas tank!”

Principal Ember cleared his throat, and the protests died. 

“Fear not, for you will find that there is enough at academy life to distract you from the life you once knew. Now, you may go to the counsellor’s office. Enjoy your stay here, and I will see you again soon.”

He left the podium, and the mad dash to the counsellor’s office began.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second chapter of "Power Unchained".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapters are a collab between us - while one of us wrote the first draft of each (LLL of Chap. 1, Luverlark of Chap. 2), the second drafts were flipped, and thus we consider them to be written by both of us - though they were posted by LLL.

Camille Monera loved science.

It was her passion, her hobby, and her life’s commitment. To her eyes, the science hidden in everything around was clear. When she looked at the waterfall near the balcony of her treehouse, she could nearly see the water molecules dancing around and then falling down the falls. When she looked at the bugs that crawled on the trees, she saw the miraculous way they were built, each with different parts used for different things. When she looked at the rocks that lay on the ground of the pond by her dad’s helicopter platform, she knew they were full of amazing minerals- and each were created in a different way.

So when she got the invitation to The Mystic Academy, she was thrilled. She could finally show everyone all she knew, and find how these abilities could help the world in the future. 

She had grown up in the amazon, with her parents. Their job was to  look for new animals and plants and then give reports on what they found. At the end of each month (or when a very important discovery was made) Camille and her parents would go down to the big satellite dish, open her dad’s computer, and then send the messages.They were explorers, and they taught Camille everything they knew about science. But their knowledge, of course, was limited. They had been in the rainforest for a long time, and never left unless needed. They lived in a tall, beautiful treehouse, and every day was a new adventure. Camille loved helping her parents send reporters to the rainforest wildlife agency they worked for. 

Camille rarely left the rainforest, except for the time when her mother was ill, and again when she and her father had gotten snake bites when they were tracking an odd species of bird. In these cases, they had to take the helicopter, which was something that made Camille very excited. Riding in the helicopter was on her list of favorite things, coming in third to exploring and reading.

Seeing as Camille had grown up far from any human civilization, she was nervous that she wouldn’t be able to make any friends at the school. She had only talked to her parents her whole life, and her grandmother, who came to visit once every other year if she could. Other than that, she only talked to her monkey, Chapo.

He was a funny little thing, that Camille had found when she was twelve. They had been seeking out a rare and exotic frog, when suddenly, out of nowhere, Camille felt something big and hairy land on her shoulder. She had screamed, and pushed it off, hoping that it wasn’t a tarantula. As much as she loved everything in science, she’d rather read about bugs than have them crawl on her.

But when she turned to see what she had pushed off, she saw a little baby monkey lying on the ground. “Oh!” she had exclaimed, automatically feeling terrible. She had picked it up, and snuggled it in her arms. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, and stroked the creature’s head. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Her parents thought it would be good for her to have a friend- even if it  _ was _ an animal- and so they let her keep him. She named him Chapo, and she had come to love him more than anything- except her parents, of course.

Camille, now age 15, sat in her treehouse preparing to go to The Mystic Academy. She grabbed all of the science textbooks that she had - Microbiology, physiology, biology, zoology, algedonics, autecology, botany, chemistry, anthropology, biology- okay, you get the point. 

Chapo jumped down from a tree, and crawled up onto her shoulder. She laughed, and patted his tiny head. She felt bad to leave him, but this was an important time for her.  _ Who knows,  _ She thought. Her whole life could have been leading up to going to The Mystic Academy. She wondered the things she’d do- the friends she’d meet! Maybe she’d even meet the one! Nah, now she was going too far. Anyway, she knew that Chapo would understand. Chapo always understood. She finished packing her bag, and swung it over her left shoulder. Chapo still sat on her right one. She knew that he’d had to get off, soon. 

“Oh, Chapo,” she murmured. “I can’t take you with me. But…. I’ll see you again. Maybe you can come to parent day! I heard that schools far from home have that kind of thing.” Chapo was looking at her strangely, with big, sad eyes that showed that he knew what she meant. He made a squeaking sound in her throat, and then jumped off her shoulder, into a nearby tree. Camille bit her lip. Well, he’d forgive her. Eventually.

She set her bag down on the balcony, where she had been getting ready, and went inside through the sliding wood door. Her dad was in the kitchen with her mom, and they were talking. They looked up when she entered, and her dad said, “Are you ready to go, chimp?”  Camille smiled at the old nickname. She had gotten it when she was six, because she had climbed around on everything like a monkey. The name sort of stuck.

“Yeah, I’m ready. I was just coming to see when we’re leaving.”

Her dad shrugged, and said, “I guess that we’ll have a quick bite to eat and then we’ll be heading out.” Camille nodded, and went to the pantry. Her mother insisted on getting her something, and for her to just sit down and relax. Camille knew that her mother was not happy to see her go, even if she was going to see her again. Camille knew her Mom would miss her, so she had wanted to do as much for her as she could before she left.

It was mid morning when they went out. Camille grabbed her bag, said goodbye to her mother, and then went outside into the sticky rainforest air to the helicopter. It wasn’t a far walk, just about a quarter mile from the treehouse. They reached the helicopter pad, and went through the big wire gate to the vehicle itself. 

Yes, it would be a long flight. But Camille was excited out of her mind to see the building. As hard as she tried, she couldn’t imagine what the building would look like. Either way, she knew she wouldn’t be disappointed. After a long ride, they finally arrived at what appeared to be a military base.

_ Wait, what? _ Camille thought. She looked around, confused.

“Dad?” she asked, looking around at the strange buildings, and the thick wire fence behind them. “Where are we?” she asked.

Her dad shrugged. “This is where the school’s located. Well- not exactly. It should be past those trees.” Together, she and her dad past a thick cluster of trees - and broke into a huge clearing. Camille squinted as her eyes adjusted to the light after the trees, and then felt her eyes slowly come out of their squint and grow wide. Before her was a miraculous sight. There was a large building in the center of the clearing, a pit on one side, a tall, blue tower across from the pit, with vines creeping up the sides, and many other different buildings. 

, 

“Do you want me to walk you in?” her dad asked. But she just shook her head.

“This land is for mystics, like me I’d like to finally do something by myself - and be a part of something new on my own.” He nodded, understanding what she meant. Camille watched him go back into the trees, and then turned to face the clearing again. With the sound of the helicopter behind her, she stepped forward into the sun.

 

An hour later, found herself walking down the hall of the dorm, holding a folder that gave her dorm room number. She repeated the number to herself again and again as she walked down the hall, her heart pounding inside of her chest like a drum.  _ Dorm number five, dorm number five - ah! _ She took a deep breath, and then knocked on the door. There was a pause, and then someone said, “Coming!” Camille heard footsteps, and then the door swung open. A girl stood in the doorway - probably Camille’s age- maybe a bit older. She had red hair, and green eyes. “Ummm, can I help you?” the girl asked. Camille nodded, and bit her lip. She was so nervous! This was the first non-adult Camille had ever talked to!

“This is, um, my dorm. I guess we’re roommates?” She fumbled with the folder in her hand. “Oh - unless I got the wrong room! But I think that this is the right one, I was sure that I-”

The girl laughed. “No, I think this is your room. It’s dorm five, is that yours?” Camille nodded, and the girl smiled.

“Okay, well come in,” she said. She moved aside, and Camille entered and began putting her things away.

  
  



End file.
